Falling For You

Chapter 8

The entire car ride, the silence hangs like a weight in the air. The awkwardness between Liam and Zayn has taken a toll on the rest of the car.

Even Niall, who usually makes a point of never shutting up, is silently staring out the window. Liam has to fight the urge to reach over and touch Zayn. To put a hand on his leg, hold his hand. Do something to tell him that it wasn't a mistake.

He had wanted to kiss him.

Liam could see Zayn's feelings written all over his face. He had almost kissed Liam back, and because Liam was an idiot and jumped away when Louis came in, he now thought that Liam didn't love him.

If only Louis had stayed downstairs. Liam thinks to himself, then yelling at himself after. No, it's not fair to blame Louis. None of this would be happening if you had just grown a pair and told Zayn you loved him ages ago.

Liam pulls into the school parking lot, still arguing with himself in his head, and parks. Zayn is instantly out of the car, heading towards the school.

Louis, Niall, and Harry share a look, noticing how tight Liam's grip on the steering wheel is, and come to a silent consensus. Niall and Harry exit the car, following Zayn inside, and Louis stays behind. He climbs up over the centre console and plops down in the passenger seat.

"Was all that about earlier?" Louis asks, and Liam nods, watching as the other three boys disappear into school, his focus trained entirely on the raven-haired one.

"What happened?" Louis asks, and Liam runs a hand through his hair, disheveling it, as he lets out a big sigh.

"I almost kissed him." Liam whispers, letting his hands slide from his hair to cover his face.

"Shit." Louis mutters, and Liam nods in agreement.

"And, I can't be sure, but I think he almost kissed me back." Liam says. "And then you walked in, and like an idiot, I jumped away, and now he definitely hates me." Liam looks over at Louis whose eyes are practically bugging out of his skull.

"Shit!! Alright, come on, we're going to talk to him." Louis says, shoving out of the car and running around to Liam's side. He opens the door and latches onto Liam's arm, yanking him out of the car.

Liam barely has time to grab the keys out of the ignition and lock the car before Louis is dragging him towards the school. They've completely abandoned their bags in the backseat.

Liam pulls back against Louis' grip, but Louis keeps walking. "Lou, seriously, I need to give him space." Liam reasons, but Louis just scoffs.

"Bullshit." He calls over his shoulder. "You need to tell him you're in love with him, so that he can finally admit he's in love with you." Louis drags Liam into the school and into the hallway where Zayn has his locker. The sight that greets them makes Liam's blood boil.

Zayn is alone, Niall and Harry must have gone to class, and he's surrounded by 3 guys who have him trapped against the lockers. One of them is grabbing Zayn by the collar of his shirt.

Absolutely fucking not! Liam thinks as he shoves out of Louis' grip and marches over towards them. These idiots are fucking dead!